Report: Law Unsure of Future With Church

Published 7:00 pm, Saturday, December 14, 2002

A day after the pope accepted his resignation as archbishop of Boston, Cardinal Bernard Law said he didn't know what his new role would be in the church.

"I honestly do not know. I need to turn my thoughts and prayers toward figuring that out," Law, 71, told a reporter for The Boston Globe, who was on the cardinal's flight Saturday from Rome to Newark, N.J.

"After all, I am still young," Law said. For now, "I will be praying and thinking and reflecting on what has happened."

Law disembarked from the plane in Newark and got into a sport utility vehicle. He was back in Boston on Sunday but didn't attend Mass at Cathedral of the Holy Cross.

The Mass was celebrated by Bishop Richard Lennon, appointed to temporarily lead the archdiocese following Law's resignation. Lennon issued a statement after his appointment pledging "to work toward healing as a church and furthering the mission of Jesus Christ within our community."

Law's return to the United States marked the end of a yearlong struggle to salvage his 18-year tenure as head of the archdiocese amid a growing clergy sexual abuse scandal.

He was asked by the Globe if he held any negative feelings toward the media or the lay and clerical groups that voiced outrage at the way he handled the crisis.

"I have no hatred in my heart for anybody. I mean that," Law said.

"I really think that what I have done is best for the church and I have to leave it at that," he said. "I think it is best that I return quietly."

He did not discuss his meeting with the pope or any of the legal battles he still faces.